Курсовая работа: Walt Whitman. Philosophical basics of his work

He may have been influenced by grass-roots reformers' oratory (Reynolds).

Parallels

Definition: variations on a theme, often linked by anaphora (the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of lines).

«Song of Myself»: «Have you reckoned a thousand acres much? have you reckoned the earth much? Have you…»

«Crossing Brooklyn Ferry»: «I see… I see… I see…»

See Ecclesiastes 3:2 – …: «A time to be born, and a time to die: a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted…»

Persona

«'Persona, ' as defined by A Handbook to Literature , is a mask created by an author and through which a narrative is told. Intrinsic in the concept of persona is that the author's own views are masked by the implied author through which he/she speaks (385). Another interpretation of 'persona, ' the Jungian view, is that persona is a set of attitudes adopted by an individual to fit himself for the social roles he sees as his (Simpson 598)…. Both of these explanations of persona are applicable to Whitman's works» (Hundley 1).

Punctuation

«Section 9 of «Passage to India» includes 29 lines. Twenty-five of these lines end either in a question or exclamation mark. The effect of this punctuation is that Whitman depicts the deep emotion that he pours into his writing» (Lasher 9/17/96).

Whitman «uses exclamation points frequently, creating extra emphasis on lines. The beautiful things in life become magnificent, and sad become tragic» (Minis 9/17/96).

Whitman believed that poetry should be spoken, not written, and this basic criterion governed the concept and form of his poetry. He used repetition and reiterative devices (as, for example, in «Out of the Cradle Endlessly rocking,» the lines «Loud! Loud! Loud!» and «Blow! Blow! Blow!») He also employed elements of the opera (the aria and the recitative) in his poems.

He also was a master of exuberant phrases and images: «The beautiful uncut hair of graves» («Song of Myself,» section 6) is extraordinarily descriptive. Conversely, another description of the grass in the same section of the same poem, where it is described as «the handkerchief of the Lord,» is trivial.

Whitman brought vitality and picturesqueness to his descriptions of the physical world. He was particularly sensitive to sounds and described them with acute awareness. His view of the world was dominated by its change and fluidity, and this accounts for his frequent use of «ing» forms, either present participle or gerund.

Whitman’s language is full of his eccentricities: he used the word «presidential» for presidency, «pave» for pavement, and he spelled Canada with a K.

«Leaves of grass» contains archaic expressions – for example, betimes, betwixt, methinks, haply, and list (for listen). Whitman also employs many colloquial expressions and technical and commercial terms. Words from foreign languages add color and variety to his style.

Peculiarities in Whitman’s Rhythm and Verse

Whitman’s use of rhythms is notable. A line of his verse, if scanned in the routine way, seems like a prose sentence, or an advancing wave of prose rhythm. Yet his work is composed in lines, not in sentences as prose would be. The line is the unit of sense in Whitman.

Whitman experimented with meter, rhythm, and form because he thought that experimentation was the law of the changing times, and that innovation was the gospel of the modern world. Whitman’s fondness for trochaic movement rather than iambic movement shows the distinctive quality of his use of meter. An iamb is a metrical foot of two syllables, the second of which is accented. A trochee is a metrical foot consisting of an accented syllable followed by an unaccepted one. The iambic is the most commonly used meter in English poetry, partly because of the structure of English speech. English phrases normally begin with an article, preposition, or conjunction which merges into the word that follows it, thus creating the rising inflection which is iambic. Why, then, did Whitman prefer the trochaic to the iambic meter? It was partly due to the poet’s desire for declamatory expression and oratorical style, since the trochee is more suitable for eloquent expression than the iambic meter. Whitman also liked to do things that were unusual and novel.

Imagery – a Special Technique of Walt Whitman’s

Imagery means a figurative use of language. Whitman’s use of imagery shows his imaginative power, the depth of his sensory perceptions, and his capacity to capture reality instantaneously. He expresses his impressions of the world in language which mirrors the present. He makes the past come alive in his images and makes the future seem immediate. Whitman’s imagery has some logical order on the conscious level, but it also delves into the subconscious, into the world of memories, producing a stream-of-consciousness of images. These images seem like parts of a dream, pictures of fragments of a world. On the other hand, they have solidity; they build the structure of the poems.

The Use of Symbols in Whitman’s Works

A symbol is an emblem, a concrete object that stands for something abstract; for example, the dove is a symbol of peace; the cross, Christianity. Literary symbols, however, have a more particular connotation. They sometimes signify the total meaning, or the different levels of meaning, which emerge from the work of art in which they appear. A white whale is just an animal–but in Melville’s Moby Dick it is a god to some characters, evil incarnate to others, and a mystery to others. In other words, it has an extended connotation which is symbolic.

In the mid‑1880s, the Symbolist movement began in France, and the conscious use of symbols became the favorite practice of poets. The symbolists and Whitman had much in common; both tried to interpret the universe through sensory perceptions, and both broke away from traditional forms and methods. But the symbols of the French symbolists were highly personal, whereas in Whitman the use of the symbol was governed by the objects he observed: the sea, the birds, the lilacs, the Calamus plant, the sky, and so on. Nevertheless, Whitman did have an affinity with the symbolists; they even translated some of his poems into French.

Whitman’s major concern was to explore, discuss, and celebrate his own self, his individuality and his personality. Second, he wanted to eulogize democracy and the American nation with its achievements and potential. Third, he wanted to give poetical expression to his thoughts on life’s great, enduring mysteries–birth, death, rebirth or resurrection, and reincarnation.

The Self

To Whitman, the complete self is both physical and spiritual. The self is man’s individual identity, his distinct quality and being, which is different from the selves of other men, although it can identify with them. The self is a portion of the one Divine Soul. Whitman’s critics have sometimes confused the concept of self with egotism, but this is not valid. Whitman is constantly talking about «I,» but the «I» is universal, a part of the Divine, and therefore not egotistic.

The Body and the Soul

Whitman is a poet of these elements in man, the body and the soul. He thought that we could comprehend the soul only through the medium of the body. To Whitman, all matter is as divine as the soul; since the body is as sacred and as spiritual as the soul, when he sings of the body or its performances, he is singing a spiritual chant.